OBS Yearling Sale Opens Monday; Buyer Interest High

When you have a lot of horses in a Thoroughbred sale, you need a lot of buyers to get good results

Heading into the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. August yearling auction, consignors reported that plenty of shoppers were showing up at their barns. The sale, which has 1,551 horses in its catalogue, starts its five-day run Monday in Central Florida with a select session. Four open sessions will follow.

"I think we're going to have a really good sale," said Francis Vanlangendonck of Summerfield on Sunday. "There are a lot of people here, and they're shopping aggressively. We showed 1,600 times Friday, 1,450 yesterday, and we'll do a 1,000 today. A lot of people like the horses; they're looking for something to buy."

Dr. Cara Erwin-Oliver of Marion Bloodstock also had been busy at her barn.

"I opened my shedrow Friday," she said, "and I expected to get a lot of people out of the way. And let me tell you, I did. But on Saturday, I was swamped. Today (Sunday), I've had a lot of second looks, and there is a lot of vetting going on. It ought to be a strong sale. There are a lot of good young sires out there right now."

Florida is the base for many yearling-to-juvenile pinhookers, and they benefited from record-setting results earlier this year at sales of 2-year-olds in training. Shoppers at OBS Sunday included Randy Hartley and Dean De Renzo, who sold The Green Monkey at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select juvenile auction for a world record price of $16 million.

"Our number of lookers is way up from last year," said Terry Cookson of Cookson Thoroughbreds. "We've had a variety -- owners, trainers, pinhookers, agents. In general, there's a lot of interest, and they're hot for those good ones."

Selling begins each day at 11 a.m. (EDT).